Chattanooga Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

Motorcycle accidents occur regularly throughout the country, certainly including Tennessee and the local Chattanooga area.

A motorcycle offers very little in the way of protection when it’s involved in an accident. Motorcycle riders (and any passenger) suddenly find themselves skidding or bouncing along the roadway, often into the path of other vehicles, or slamming into solid objects like guardrails, other vehicles and buildings. Death is common and injuries are often severe, ranging from serious brain and spine injury to broken bones, dislocations, soft tissue tears, and deep, painful abrasions.

Yet many automobile drivers claim that the accident wasn’t their fault, leaving the victim to face a legal battle while trying to recover physically. If that’s the situation facing you or someone you care about, the experienced motorcycle accident team at Wettermark and Keith, LLC, can take much of that burden off the victim. We understand how these accidents tend to occur, the types of injuries they cause, and what the victims will have to go through on the way to recovery—if a full recovery is even possible. And the sooner you get help, the easier it will be to find, preserve and use the evidence that can force the people who caused the accident to at least compensate for your injuries.

Crashes Involving Other Motor Vehicles

While accidents involving only the motorcycle certainly occur, the majority of motorcycle accidents involve another motor vehicle. And in a majority of those accidents, the other vehicle impinges on the motorcycle’s right of way and caused the accident in two-thirds of those accidents. The typical motorcycle crash involves another vehicle’s driver not seeing the motorcycle until it was too late to avoid a collision.

There are many possible causes for that, including

Glare from headlights

Glare from the sun

Other vehicles blocking the line of sight

The vehicle’s “blind spot”

The distraction of the other vehicle’s driver

It’s very important to get the crash information and witness statements about what happened as soon as possible.

Blaming the Motorcyclist

Not surprisingly, vehicle drivers who crash into motorcyclists that they “never saw” have both a financial and psychological incentive to blame the motorcyclist. The financial incentive is obvious; the psychological incentive comes from the fact that most drivers consider themselves competent and compassionate. It’s psychologically painful to think that they simply didn’t see an object a large as a motorcycle, and that the failure caused the injuries they witnessed firsthand. They often search for a reason not to feel guilty and latch onto the idea that the cyclist somehow was in the wrong—riding in blind spots, suddenly cutting into their path, and the like.

An experienced accident lawyer understands this reaction for what it is and goes about overcoming it. It’s important to know, for example that motorcyclists have less than two seconds to avoid the crash once they see it coming.

In some cases, for example when the motorcyclist has a past speeding ticket, it’s a case of “that was then, this now”—past behavior doesn’t prove what happened in this case. In other cases, it’s a matter of establishing that the motorcyclist’s behavior was perfectly legal and reasonable. For example, Tennessee’s Motorcycle Operator’s Manual allows motorcyclists to use either goggles or a windshield; failure to have one isn’t a violation of safety requirements, as long as the other was used.

Contact a Chattanooga Motorcycle Accident Attorney

Obviously, motorcycle accidents are no simple matter, and there is an awful lot at stake. It takes experience simply to reconstruct the events of the accident. At Wettermark & Keith, LLC, Our 95 percent success rate in getting victims the compensation they need and deserve speaks for itself. The earlier we start working with you, the better the results will be, whether that means a fair settlement or a trip to the court. For a free consultation on your case, call us now to protect your right to compensation for your injuries.